THREATS AND RESPONSES

THREATS AND RESPONSES; Five More Charged In Antiterror Sweep By Police in Britain

By ALAN COWELL

Published: April 11, 2004

LONDON, April 10—
Five Britons appeared briefly in a high-security court on Saturday charged with an array of terrorism-related crimes after what was depicted by the authorities as the biggest antiterror sweep in Britain since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

The court appearances followed raids on March 30 in London and southeastern England during which police officers seized ammonium nitrate fertilizer from a commercial storage locker near London.

Four of the men -- Jawad Akbar, 20; Omar Khyam, 22; Waheed Mahmoud, 32; and Anthony Garcia, 21 -- were accused of conspiring to cause an explosion as part of a plot hatched between Oct. 1, 2003, and March.

A 17-year-old, whose name is being withheld because of his age, and a Canadian, Mohammed Momin Khawaja, have also been charged with taking part in the plot.

The 17-year-old and four of the men who appeared on Saturday were charged under 19th century laws, accused of plotting ''to cause by an explosive substance an explosion of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property.''

Two suspects, Mr. Khyam and Mr. Garcia, were also charged, along with a fifth man, Nabeel Hussain, 19, under Britain's newly tightened antiterrorism laws. They were accused of keeping over 1,300 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer in a self-storage facility in west London, providing police with ''reasonable suspicion'' that the chemicals were to be used ''for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism.''

Two other men seized on March 30 have since been released on bail.

In a separate hearing on Saturday, a 39-year-old Frenchman, Jacques Karim Abi-Ayad, was charged with possessing documents ''likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit'' terrorist acts.